Mashable Plans Facebook Live Programs, New Short-Form Series In Video Push

The digital publisher will debut four web series for Bravo this year.

A little more than a month after Mashable cut staff as part of a push to make more video, the digital publisher is revealing a bit more about its content strategy.

The company is planning a significant Facebook Live effort, pledging to produce more than 35 hours of original each month programming for the live broadcasting platform. Also on Facebook Live will be a new weekly video show, ElPulsoLive, produced in partnership with Telemundo and hosted by Christian Acosta.

Mashable, which held its first NewFronts pitch for advertisers on Friday, also said that it will produce a video series about outer space with astronaut Garrett Reisman and producer David Stern (MozartintheJungle) and will release the second season of Scamalot with comedian James Veitch later this summer. Another of Mashable's new projects is a short-film that will serve as the follow up to DARE, a coming-of-age story about a gay teen that was released on YouTube three years ago.

These projects join a slate that already includes four short-form web series produced for Bravo that will debut later this year.

Like many digital publishers today, Mashable has placed an increased emphasis on video production and in March announced that it had received a $15 million investment from Turner that included a strategic partnership to bring Mashable video to TV. A few days later, the company cut a number of its staffers in a move that CEO Pete Cashmore characterized in a letter to staff as a "tough decision" as the company positions itself "to stay ahead of the market."

One of the ways in which Mashable is adapting its editorial properties for video is through its Velocity technology, which provides predictive analytics around which stories audiences will connect with. "The unique combination of our patented Velocity technology and the creative firepower of our Mashable Studios division gives us the ability to deliver exceptional results for our advertising partners across every platform and format," Cashmore said in a statement on Friday. "We're incredibly excited to now offer our brand partners the opportunity to extend the reach of their multi-platform campaigns from digital all the way through to linear television thanks to our partnership with Turner Broadcasting."